In the final weeks of a year, when content calendars slow and we collectively begin to reflect on the year nearly gone — and plan, with some level of disbelief, for the one to come — we editors indulge in a favorite past-time: the curation of the year-end ‘best of’...
Chloe Heskett
Perspectives on Intermediaries: Responding to ‘Bridging the Gap’
Introducing CEP's research on grantee experiences with intermediary funders, lead author Emily Yang notes "a significant rise in both the interest in and number of intermediary organizations." Accompanying this rise in interest in funding through intermediaries –...
Insights from Grantees: A CEP Blog Series
Funders have used CEP's Grantee Perception Report to gather candid, comparative feedback from their grantees for more than two decades. In addition to sharing confidential reports with individual funders to enable them to continually improve their own work with...
Burnout and Well-Being in Grantee Organizations: A CEP Blog Series
Among the findings of Center for Effective Philanthropy's State of Nonprofits 2024: What Funders Need to Know, was a striking statistic: 95 percent of nonprofit leaders who responded to CEP's survey expressed some level of concern about burnout. Following the release...
Philanthropy and AI: A CEP Blog Series
A little more than a year ago, in a post that kicked off a series on AI and philanthropy on the CEP blog, we asked, “What does ChatGPT Know About Philanthropy?” A year later, that question has been turned on its head; what we hear more often is some version of, “what...
CEP2023 Day 3: But for (Effective) Philanthropy
This afternoon, as we closed the doors on the final session of the CEP conference, our whirlwind three days together at CEP2023 came to an end. As you each return to your own lives, families, and work, we hope you leave us with a plethora of new ideas, tools, and...
CEP2023 Day Two: Trick or Treating for Grantmakers
CEP2023 attendees brought their Halloween spirit to day two of the CEP conference, and we hit the ground running with a packed morning as author and cofounder of Candid Jacob Harold took the main stage to deliver a message of strategic abundance for philanthropy. ...
CEP2023 Day One: Philanthropy Leaders Gather in Boston
Today marked the opening day of CEP’s first conference in four years, and what a joy it was to welcome so many of you to CEP2023. This afternoon, attendees heard the debut presentation of CEP’s latest, not-yet-released research on the impact of MacKenzie...
Q&A with Delphine Moralis: An Introduction to Philea
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) works with funders all over the world, including dozens of grantmakers headquartered in Europe. Recently, CEP joined the Philanthropy Europe Association (Philea), an association of philanthropic funders and infrastructure...
Using Grantee Feedback as a Guide: One Funder’s Experience Between Two GPRs
SHINE is an education charity operating in the North of England. Between their first engagement with CEP’s GPR in 2017 and their second in 2022, SHINE made some major changes, moving their headquarters, shifting their strategy, and building new and deeper...
What Does ChatGPT Know About Philanthropy?
AI is here, and it is changing the way many in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors (and other fields, too, of course) work, or even think about their roles; for some, this is an exciting prospect, for others a deeply threatening one. For most of us, though, it...
Top 10 Most-Read Blog Posts of 2022
Amidst exclaims of “where has the year gone!” and well wishes for the holiday season, the year’s end has arrived. With that, ‘tis the season for end-of-year lists. In this post, I share the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s (CEP) own end-of-year list: the top 10...
The Joy in Giving Done Right: Looking Back on Season 3 of CEP’s Podcast
Here in New England, the leaves are all on the ground, the trees are bare, and the air is sharp (and the wind sharper). Just like that, it’s late November — and Giving Season is upon us. It would be easy to focus on the negatives as we approach this season; there is a...
Transformation Through Rest: A Conversation with Olatunde Sobomehin
[vc_row el_class="sixtysix-thirtythree"][vc_column width="2/3"][vc_column_text]A little more than six years ago, Olatunde Sobomehin co-founded the organization StreetCode Academy, a California-based nonprofit that provides technology access, skills learning, and...
In Conversation with Allison Fine and Beth Kanter, Authors of “The Smart Nonprofit”
Smart technology, which refers to AI and other digital technologies that replace human decision-makers, is on the rise. While smart technology has obvious implications in sectors like the automotive industry, personal electronics, home automation, and more, the...
Funders Share Stories of Change, Part Three: Listening, Collaboration, & Systems Change
This is part three of a CEP blog series in which leaders from eight foundations shared — in their own words — the most important changes they have made at their foundation since 2020 that they plan to sustain going forward. These funders’ stories, which can be read in...
Funders Share Stories of Change, Part Two: Increased Flexibility & Responsiveness
This is part two of three in a CEP blog series in which leaders from eight foundations shared — in their own words — the most important changes they have made at their foundation since 2020 that they plan to sustain going forward. These funders’ stories, which can be...
Funders Share Stories of Change, Part One: Greater Focus on Systemic Inequities & Racial Equity
This is part one of three in a CEP blog series in which leaders from eight foundations shared — in their own words — the most important changes they have made at their foundation since 2020 that they plan to sustain going forward. These funders’ stories, which can be...
Top 10 Most-Read CEP Blog Posts of 2021
If we started this year with optimism, sure that stability was within grasp, that sense of confidence and security was swiftly snatched away. From an attack on the Capitol to the pandemic’s resurgence to continued polarization within and outside of our borders, 2021...
Building Board Support on Issues of Racial Equity: A Conversation with Sector Leaders
Foundation and nonprofit leaders came together to discuss changes made to philanthropic practice in response to the crises of the last two years at CEP’s third 2021 Virtual Learning Session. In this excerpt, the panelists respond to one of the findings of CEP’s new...